Our tastes align maybe 75% or 80%. We’re closer on music than we are in literature but not as close as we are with film. She hates Springsteen, which is probably the biggest difference. But we like a lot of the same rock, same jazz, same classical. She likes our son’s death metal records. Lately, we’ve been getting a lot of joy from late 50s pop and orchestral music—Peggy Lee, Henry Mancini, Les Baxter, that kind of stuff. Stuff our parents/grandparents listened to.

Six or seven years ago, she wanted to see Culture Club, a band I don’t care for. We went. She’d been a good sport when it came to Jesus Lizard (noticing a trend here), so I said, sure. I’ll be the good husband and go without complaint.

Live, you could hear elements of all the good stuff in their record collections: 60s soul, glam, reggae, calypso. And it was the first time in many years that the original lineup had toured together, so you got to see the joy that came with that. Plus, you found yourself thinking about all the shit, all the hate and bile, Boy George had to endure. It was a really fun night, and we felt reflective afterwards.

So, go to Blink-182!

It’s never been an issue either way with people I dated in my youth. I did, however, used to work with people who shared my musical tastes at, say, 98%. But on that 2%, they’d turn into dicks and would explode in anger if you weren’t into Shnerp and The Derps to the degree they were. Fuck that.

eephus wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2023 3:23 pm …I've never been asked to take anything off.

If Elizabeth walks into the room while Rush is playing, I am expected to turn it off ASAP. She has a zero-tolerance policy with Rush.

Dave N. wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2023 3:47 pm

eephus wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2023 3:23 pm …I've never been asked to take anything off.

If Elizabeth walks into the room while Rush is playing, I am expected to turn it off ASAP. She has a zero-tolerance policy with Rush.

Basically NoMeansNo, Jawbox and Death Metal are no go if Leah's home. Anything else is mood dependent. (we're married gotta learn to read the room) I've never been a fan of most Goth or Glam Rock, so she saves that for when I'm out, and I typically don't put on Hip-hop without checking her mood. We can both get snotty about it, music is both of our favourite art form. Having attended many a PRFBBQ, Shellac, PJ Harvey, Spiritualized, free jazz, Hungry Man, AoL Neil Young, Rachel's, Sunn O)))), Boris, (fuck we've seen a lot of music together over the last 18 years.) Our tastes kinda grow and develop off of each other now. I'm still amazed she loves Alice Coltrane and Sonny Sharrock. Our Monday evening revolves around sitting in silence while FMMaurice is on twitch. (speaking of, gotta get dinner started).

Our tastes are definitely pretty close. Few things I dig that she can't stand (most metal, dub/reggae, Kraftwerk). We both continually get horrible 90s music stuck in each other's brains. I think the pandemic got her out of the habit of seeing stuff live, so rare now that'll she'll go to something that's not our friends bands, my bands, or a bigger band we both like. Last fall we went to Shellac, Shins, and Pavement together all within a couple weeks of each other.

Blanket offer -

If your man or lady wants to see Blink-182 and you cannot tolerate going?

I will gladly take said hit for you.

I will even cover the cash if Atom Willard ever winds up on drums.

Past that...

I had a hard time not laughing at some of the "Boy,, I Got Troubles..." stories I glanced over.

It's Blink-182. Not O-Town.

Eh, how bad can Blink 182 be? Have some edibles, people-watch, it’ll be a decent time.

I’m trying to think what the worst stadium concert I ever saw was? Probably Aerosmith

twelvepoint wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2023 6:14 pmI’m trying to think what the worst stadium concert I ever saw was?

Bob Dylan in ~2005. Bland dad-rock sound, songs altered for the sake of it with no thought behind, long and boring. Didn't have to pay for it though.

kokorodoko wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2023 11:23 pm

twelvepoint wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2023 6:14 pmI’m trying to think what the worst stadium concert I ever saw was?

Bob Dylan in ~2005. Bland dad-rock sound, songs altered for the sake of it with no thought behind, long and boring. Didn't have to pay for it though.

Alarmingly similar to my experience, except Brixton Academy and I DID have to pay for it. I thought of it as more "bored wedding band" than "dad rock" but maybe my "bored wedding" is your "dad"

Worst stadium concert....Mrs MSE got us tix to see Van Halen when they toured in 2012. They played fine but ugh the sound was just completely awful, basically all we could hear was the snare drum and a wash of bass.

Anyway, our musical tastes mostly get along. She loves 80s new wave, which I hated as metalhead kid, but constant exposure has really worn me down, I quite like it now.

She has no tolerance for metal at all, but honestly I don't have much of one either, if I'm in a metal mood, it's 80s thrash and it's not that often.

She has a very low tolerance for horns in rock music, particularly sax. Likes them fine if it's jazz.

If RHCP come on the radio in the car, they last literally a quarter note, she changes stations like a laser.

Our common ground is classic rock and 90s indie/shoegaze. We like browsing through used cds, which seems like the most Gen-X thing imaginable.

We have guitars scattered around the house, to be played when the mood strikes, which is often, and I tend to drive her crazy with my usual frantic strumming. One thing that goes over real well though: playing along to the radio, and I'll come up with a simple melodic phrase, like you do, but then I'll play it with all wrong notes, as out as possible, but real deliberate and intentional. Never fails to get a laugh.